Category Archives: Linguistics

One construction students of the English language inevitably encounter in their course of study is the conversion of an active sentence into a passive one (passivization), e.g.: John bought a car. (active) –> A car was bought by John. (passive) … Continue reading →

When touring around Thailand, it isn’t uncommon to encounter attractions with a most disagreeable double pricing system (higher admission cost for non-Thai nationals, you would never find this in Europe… Anyway…). I imagine three categories of non-Thai tourist: those who … Continue reading →

In a recent post, I had originally mentioned asparagus/asparagi as an example of hypercorrection due to the common Latin pluralization rule of –us –> –i . However, from further investigation I’m not so sure that asparagus/asparagi is actually so “wrong” after … Continue reading →

What’s the plural of octopus? Everybody I’ve asked recently (about ten native speakers in the last month) has replied with either “octopuses” or both “octopuses” and “octopi.” I must confess, I would have probably answered with “octopi,” if it weren’t … Continue reading →

When I mentioned to a colleague of mine that I had planned to compile an endangered verbs list he beamed, “Great! We shall also set up a reserve just for them. But, I don’t think I could say the same … Continue reading →